They say it's your birthday. We're going to have a good time. [Pre-dated to March 27]

[doeinbloom]

Since Sirius and James told her about The Nook, the quaint house in the country her son resided in during his time in Darrow, Lily has plotted and planned. In the way James spoke of the place, she knew instantly that he longed to live there. To absorb what he can of the same air Harry breathed, when he was here. So though that first trip out had been difficult, nearly impossible, really, what with the way Lily had burst into tears at the first sight of the living room, her son's things scattered about as though he might walk through the door any moment, she kept coming back in fits and bursts, sometimes with Sirius and James, sometimes by herself.

Two weeks before James' birthday, she took Sirius aside and they began plotting. Sirius helped keep James distracted, giving Lily time to sneak away and make the trips necessary for them to move into The Nook. She decided with Sirius that the best surprise they could give James was moving into the place, and to throw a surprise birthday party at the house along with it.

Lily took the time and care to make sure she kept all of Harry's things. She arranged for them all to be placed in one of the four bedrooms, a sort of shrine in the hopes that Harry might show up on their doorstep. For the most part, she kept the furniture in the living room as is. She sold the dining room table and chairs, replaced them with a set that better suited her and James' taste. She spent as much of her spare time as she could buying and arranging furniture; of painting rooms and decorating them to make the place feel more like their home in Godric's Hollow. She added to the spells and charms about the place, increasing security and adding warmth, coziness to their new home.

Finally, on the day of James' birthday, everything is set. She employs Sirius once more to distract James, while she Apparates and charms all of their belongings in their flat to the new place. She hurries to cook, clean, and set up decorations in Gryffindor colors, red and gold. She arranges everything in the backyard; she has charms ready to protect everything in case of rain. She'd spoken with a local witch, who informed her that she could find Firewhiskey and other drinks from her world at a place called the Beanstalk. She'd spoken with the owner, and now she has one table loaded with a variety of drinks, both from her world and Muggle, charmed to chilled perfection. Another table holds the food, a wide variety of all of James' favorites, including desserts.

She's set up the record player with speakers, using her magic so that the perfect song plays just when it's wanted most. There's a space set aside for dancing, as well as a table off to the side for presents, which Lily has already started to stack with some of her own. Fairy lights float throughout the party, each one a kaleidoscope of gold and red. She charms the whole of the house so that it smells different to each individual, matching their favorite scent that reminds them of home.

Finally, she sets up the banners and ribbons, the banners charmed with letters that dance and move. And she waits for James to arrive.

Comments

[isolemnly_swear]

Twenty-two feels, James thinks, absurdly good. It's not a particularly special age and he knows that few people at this party will understand the gravity of it, but Lily does. He suspects that's why she's gone to such lengths to make this a surprise and a delightful one at that.

"Empty?" James echoes, raising his eyebrows at her. The Nook has been decked out to suit a party, but James hasn't ventured off into any of the rooms proper yet. He certainly hadn't expected to find their own furniture and things here, fridge and all. In all honesty James is still struggling to understand the point of a fridge at all when he could just cast a simple charm, but Lily seems to enjoy the muggle oddities of this city.

"You mean you moved all our things here?" James asks, his smile widening as he realises. It's not like he hadn't considered it; since Sirius showed him the place James has wondered about moving in here himself. It had seemed to make even more sense when Lily arrived. But something had always held him back, whether it be the feelings the memory of Harry evoked in them both or the desire to let Lily settle in before James uprooted her again. He's glad she'd thought of it, too, and even more glad that she's taken the steps to actually move them.

James kisses her back fervently. He really does have the best wife ever. Especially, he thinks, if she's going to keep looking at him like that. "Oh?" he questions, smirking a little. "I'll call the party off right now then, they can all go home early."

[doeinbloom]

"Good and truly cleaned out," Lily confirms with a firm nod of her head, delighting in James' response to her news. Sirius has mentioned their trip out to the Nook, how James had noticed that the house seemed to have just been sitting there in the wake of Harry's departure from the city. As soon as Lily saw the place for herself, even before setting eyes on all of the stuff her son left behind, she knew that both she and James needed to live there. Their flat is fine, a little bit like their first one back in England, actually. Before they'd gone into hiding. But the Nook is an actual home, and Lily is so glad that they're both now living here.

"That I did," she says, preening just a bit because she can. After all, it did take quite a bit of magic for her to get all of their things over. "I thought it'd be the most direct way to tell you I wanted to move in." She grins at him, eyes bright and full of all the happiness at being here, alive, with James.

She giggles into the increased fervor of James' kiss, returning it with equal enthusiasm. "James Potter," Lily says, pulling back with a mock scolding. "You cannot simply dismiss the entire party just to open one gift." She's still eyeing up like they're already alone in the new place, though.

[isolemnly_swear]

If there's one thing James can say with certainty, it's that Lily is direct. She'd been direct when she told him to get over himself in third year, even more direct when she'd called him an arrogant toerag in fifth. She's never bothered to play any games with him, and that had only made James want to follow her around more. The thrill of the chase had been one thing, he thinks, but it's infinitely better to have this, to be able to kiss her whenever he wants and call her his wife.

"Well, message received, loud and clear," he grins, circling his arms around her waist. It's a party for him and he should probably go and greet the other guests, but for now James has no intention of moving. He knows Sirius is here somewhere and figures that the honour of entertaining their guests can fall on him for the moment. He is particularly good at it, after all.

"I can," James counters, shaking his head. "It's my birthday and I can do whatever I want." She doesn't look all that much like she wants to disagree. It really is a shame that they're hosting this party, he thinks. "No one will notice if we sneak away for a moment."

[doeinbloom]

"You always were quick to catch on," Lily responds, fond and teasing all at once as she leans into his arms and reaches up to soothe a hand through his wild hair once again. Even though she'll never get it to settle, she enjoys so much the feel of it running through her fingers.

As the host, Lily ought to be checking in on the other guests and to check in on the quantity of food and drink, make sure they still have plenty out for everyone. But once in James' arms, she can't bring herself to move. As always, she's right where she most wants to be.

"You do make a convincing argument there," she concedes, because, really, what harm could come from them sneaking away from the party for just a moment? "Although, you know Sirius is going to know exactly where we've gone, yes? He'll never let you live it down," she points out, though she's smiling and her tone is teasing. She leans in to steal a kiss, anyway.

[isolemnly_swear]

James isn't all that sure that it's him that's making the convincing argument. If she keeps kissing him, there's no way he's going to be able to let her go.

"Sirius can go jump," James mutters against her lips. It's Sirius's life mission to make fun of James for the rest of his life, so nothing there is going to change with a little dalliance. He's watched James practice poetry and dancing and all manner of ridiculous things in the names of wooing Lily Evans, he doubts this will even make the list. If anything, he might get a high five for his trouble.

He slides a hand down her arm, her wrist, to link his fingers with hers. He spares a glance around the party but no one is paying them much attention, and then he turns back to Lily with a mischievous smile. "Don't you want to test out our new bedroom?"

[doeinbloom]

Lily laughs, outright, against James' lips. Truthfully, she enjoys teasing her husband as much as she likes kissing him. Right now, though, she thinks kissing, and thoughts of other things, is winning out.

"I'll make sure to tell Sirius you said that," she promises, shaking her head, her red hair, loosely held by a headband, falling in the space between their faces.

She grins, squeezing their hands together, as she wraps her other arm around James' neck, pulling herself in even closer. If anyone happens to be looking their way, to hell with them, she thinks.

"It is rather untested," she agrees. "And we should at least do it the honor of that before sleeping in it later tonight."

[isolemnly_swear]

Lily can tell Sirius whatever she likes if she keeps this up. "You do that," he laughs, her hair tickling at his cheeks. She smells lovely, as she always does, and whatever charm she has going on around the house only serves to amplify it. He knows spellwork when he sees it and he knows it probably smells different for each person at this party, but he's perfectly content with sensing Lily wherever he walks.

She pulls in closer and any thought of staying at this party a moment longer goes out the window. He should feel bad, all of these people are here for him, but James has always had a tendency to lose his mind when it comes to Lily. Sirius will cover for him, and he'll make up for it later.

"Definitely," he agrees, "That sounds perfectly sensible." He kisses her again and then pulls away, just enough that he can tug her towards the house a little with their linked hands. "No one's watching," he tells her, giving her a wink.

[doeinbloom]

"Oh, you can count on it, Potter," Lily replies, giggling herself, and perhaps deliberately shaking more of her hair in James' face in the process. She wonders what her charm smells like for him; if any part of it reminds him of home back in Godric's Hollow.

Lily laughs again at the very idea of James agreeing to anything because of it being perfectly sensible. He is anything but, usually. Where once she found it entirely atrocious, it's one of the things she loves best about him. And, really, Lily has come to find, in her time with him, that she is quite keen to disregard sense herself. Particularly when it comes to James.

"Well, we all know how sensible I am, yeah? Especially when it comes to untested bedrooms," she says, kissing him back with delight. She makes a show of checking over her shoulder before turning back to him and following along. "And if they are, I can always charm them into looking away, or something," she says right back, smirking.

[isolemnly_swear]

James doesn't think that kind of magic will be necessary, nor does he think she's serious. He doesn't know a spell to move someone's head without their permission beyond the unforgivable, and he doubts that's ever a thought that would even cross Lily's mind. If he had the cloak, this would be a piece of cake, he thinks, but Darrow has sent him here without it so for now they'll have to sneak away the old fashioned way.

"Quick," he says, hurrying her into the house with a hand on the small of her back. Inside the smell is even lovelier, and James takes a moment to appreciate just how excellent his wife is at spellwork before he ushers her into their bedroom and shuts the door behind them.

"Much better," he says once they're alone and he can see that she has indeed already charmed their bed and all of their other things here. He spins her, backs her up against the door and ducks his head to kiss her again. He doesn't think it will ever get old, being able to kiss Lily, especially being able to kiss Lily at twenty-two years old. Nothing could ruin a day like this.

[doeinbloom]

Of course, Lily doesn't actually mean charming people into looking away; she would never seriously consider any spell that messed with free will or agency. But she's also not above creating a magical distraction capable of attracting attention if the need calls for it. Thankfully, in this case, all they need is a little old fashioned sneaking away, as if they were a pair of Muggles off for a rock concert.

"Always am," she quips, grinning as she hurries them into their bedroom, which looks quite nice if she does say so herself. She's especially proud of how familiar and almost like home it feels, cozy and comfortable.

"Agreed," she says, laughing as he spins her and leaning up to catch his kiss on her lips. She wraps her arms around James' neck, tugging him in closer and digging her hands a bit into his unruly hair. She can't stop smiling; James is here, and alive, and older, even. She gets to kiss him at an age he should not reach, and that feels like the best gift magic can ever provide her.

[isolemnly_swear]

She tangles her fingers in his hair and James presses closer, kissing her more firmly. If there was ever a reason to let his hair run as wild as it does it's this, the way Lily's fingers massage against his scalp, tugging at the strands. She's smiling against his lips which makes it even better, in a way, but James also takes it as a personal challenge. He'll wipe it away one way or another.

"This is the best birthday ever," he murmurs, moving his lips across her cheek, to her ear, to her neck. He curls a hand around her waist, pulling her up against him and smoothing circles over the small of her back with his thumb.

There's still a party full of people downstairs though, so as much as James wants to kiss Lily for the rest of his life, he's on something of a time limit. So, he moves his other arm down until he can hoist her up, wrapping her legs around his waist and moving her to the bed. Their bed, which is here, because James loves magic and he also loves his wife. "Feels like being a teenager again," he says with a small laugh as he lays her on the bed and moves over her, holding himself up on one arm. "Trying to get in a quickie before anyone notices." He grins down at her. They got their own flat shortly after leaving Hogwarts, but he hasn't forgotten sneaking moments in hallways with her, in the dorms, the Room of Requirement, anywhere he could get his hands on her before someone - usually Sirius - walked in.

[doeinbloom]

"Good," Lily replies against his lips, laughing as his kisses grow firmer, more insistent. She loves James like this, all reckless and wild with his kisses and his touch. "I did so want to make it just that. After all, you're over the hill now, what with you reaching middle age and all that."

Her eyes glint with pure amusement as she tilts her head to give him better access to her face and her neck. She moves as he lifts her up against him, squeezing her legs where they're wrapped around his waist and laughing at the quickness of it all as he brings her over to the bed.

"It really does, doesn't it?" She agrees, starting to tug at his shirt as he moves over her. "All that's missing are my scandalized friends rolling their eyes at us before we disappear into a convenient corner." She remembers nearly being caught by a professor or two, once or twice, and how that only added to the thrill of it all.

Lily moves to kiss James again, moving her hands insistently across his chest, digging under his shirt to get to the skin beneath.